Magazine
July 19, 2004
Mountain pine beetles are attacking more forests and more varieties of trees — and thriving at higher elevations than ever before — and some scientists believe global climate change is at the root of the problem. Also in this issue: A recent Supreme Court ruling in a Utah wilderness lawsuit will limit the ability of citizens to sue the government over how its agencies manage natural resources.
Feature
Mountain pine beetles are attacking more forests and more
varieties of trees — and thriving at higher elevations than
ever before — and some scientists believe global climate
change is at the root of the problem
Editor's Note
This issue features three pages of letters from readers,
weighing in on High Country News’ editorial approach to the
Bush administration’s environmental policies
Global Warming is showing up in the West, in everything
from receding glaciers to shrinking pika habitat
Uncommon Westerners
The biologist who blew the whistle on the National Marine
Fisheries Service over Klamath River fish kill, resigns from his
agency to protest the triumph of politics over science.
Essays
A judge’s ruling proves you can get a free lunch
– at least, if you live in northern Idaho, and you like to
eat roadkill
Dear Friends
HCN’s summer visitors; corrections; Canyon Country
Zephyr and Four Corners Free Press thrive
News
A recent Supreme Court ruling in a Utah wilderness lawsuit
will limit the ability of citizens to sue the government over how
its agencies manage natural resources
Earth Liberation Front claims responsibility for West
Jordan, Utah, lumberyard arson; Nuclear Regulatory Commission
won’t listen to concerns about New Mexico’s proposed
uranium-enrichment plant; warm waters in the Klamath may cause huge
fish kill
BLM archaeologist Blaine Miller says that a slew of new
oil and gas projects could harm spectacular Indian rock art and
ruins in Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon
Because arid Wyoming built landfills without liners, at
least 21 of the state’s dumps are now leaking dangerous
chemicals into groundwater
California tackles air pollution caused by gas-guzzling
power lawn mowers
Conservationists have struck a deal with Tembec Inc., a
progressive Canadian timber company, to protect land west of
Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks from coalbed methane
drilling
Ted Turner's Northern New Mexican Vermejo Park Ranch is a
showcase for "responsible" gas development, but critics fear the
neighboring Valle Vidal won’t get the same five-star
treatment.
The Bush administration needs to start dealing with global
climate change, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may help
to point the way
Book Reviews
In King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of
Salmon, David Montgomery documents the death of Atlantic
salmon, and points out that the same threats and challenges face
salmon recovery around the world
New reports from the United States Commission on Ocean
Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission agree that America’s
oceans are over-fished, polluted, and in desperate need of new
management policies
Heard Around the West
Masai warriors meet Arizona ranchers; Cosimo
Cavallaro’s hammy art; anti-gambling protest gets nasty; in
wealthy Teton County, Wyo., Jackson’s Tiki Taxi thrives;
Newsweek’s strange idea of "budget travel"; mountain biker
vs. mountain lion; and Great Salt
Letters
Related Stories
Graph and photos show the life cycle of the bark
beetle
- Rich & Terry Fairbanks on Rural communities in the West need a fair shake
- on Jim Deacon, pioneering desert fish biologist, dies
- Larry Bullock on Ranch Diaries: A New Mexico cattle company is born
- Randy Piper on Bark beetle kill leads to more severe fires, right? Well, maybe
- Delaine Spilsbury on The water czar who reshaped Colorado River politics
